After years of waiting, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is finally here. Fans have now had a whole weekend to dive head-first into Link's next adventure, and explore everything that the game has to offer. There's a lot to uncover. From new abilities that offer limitless creativity, to a plethora of new Shrines, to an even richer story that Breath of the Wild, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is jam-packed with new, original content to discover, but that doesn't mean the game doesn't have its own influences.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild made a monumental impact on the video game industry, still inspiring open-world games all these years later. And while Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has its own set of unique features that are sure to repeat the same pattern, some fans have noticed a few points of inspiration for the sequel, and one of these seems to be FromSoftware's Dark Souls series.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Opening Hours Feel Quite Similar to Dark Souls
FromSoftware's Dark Souls series, much like Breath of the Wild, has been an incredible influence on the video game industry, essentially creating its own sub-genre in the form of Soulslikes. It's only natural, then, that some of Dark Souls' elements have seemingly inspired some of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While they're not the most obvert inspirations, fans can easily draw comparisons between the opening few hours of both Dark Souls, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The subtle similarities between the two games start right out of the gate. The opening moments of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom see Link and Zelda explore a dark, ominous underground cave, with a horrifying skeleton man lying in wait at the end of the tunnel, who promptly thrusts the world into chaos. From there, Link is transported to a new location, equipped with only a broken sword to defend himself, and absolutely no armor. It may not be a direct comparison, but this opening sequence does seem fairly Dark Souls-like.
The real similarities start to appear when the player enters their first combat encounter. Tears of the Kingdom brings forward the same combat mechanics that its predecessor, Breath of the Wild had, meaning that aside from dodging and parrying, it doesn't share too much with Dark Souls' own combat systems. However, the biggest similarity between Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Dark Souls is their high level of difficulty. While Tears of the Kingdom's tutorial level slowly introduces the game's core mechanics, and gradually increases enemy difficulty, it still poses quite the challenge, with the player having very little health, armor, or weapons at their disposal. Once players get past Tears of the Kingdom's tutorial level, things only get harder.
When back on the ground, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom opens up its entire world to the player. This can be both a blessing and a curse, with the expansive open-world offering unlimited and immediate adventure, but also throwing some tough challenges at players, especially newcomers. From the get-go, players can venture out to some of the game's toughest areas, and face off against some of its toughest foes.
While those that have played Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring know to leave the fight and come back later, newcomers might not get the memo, and spend hours bashing their head against the same wall trying to defeat the overpowered foes. Even if players stay near Hyrule Castle for their first few hours, the game still isn't a breeze. Players will still have to face off against small armies of enemies frequently, and with no armor or great weapons in their possession, this can be an extremely challenging few hours, feeling at times similar to Dark Souls.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Switch.
